In Zvenyhorodka a Presentation of the Project “Originating from Shtetl” Took Place

On Sunday, May 5, 2019, the third in Ukraine presentation of the project “Originating from Shtetl” took place in the Zvenigorod synagogue, dedicated to the contribution of people from Ukrainian lands to the creation of the State of Israel. The project is being conducted by the Regional Association of Jewish Organizations of Small Towns of Ukraine on the basis of the exhibition “The State of Israel – Ukrainian roots”, prepared by the Zionist Federation of Ukraine in collaboration with the Kiev Institute of Judaism with the support of the World Confederation of United Zionists (WZO).

A distinctive feature of the project is that this traveling exhibition is supplemented with materials on Zionists and Israeli leaders who come from the township of our Regional Association. Therefore, it was conceived that, with the support of the Dutch Humanitarian Fund, the presentations of the exhibition took place in precisely those cities from where these Zionists and Israelites came from.

Thus, during the presentation in Zvenigorodka, the general material was supplemented with detailed information about the native of this town, the Israeli writer, playwright, translator, editor and literary critic, employee of the Jewish National Fund and delegate of many Zionist congresses Natana Agmon (Bystrytsky).

The event was attended by members of the Zvenigorod Jewish community. Guest of the event was a local ethnographer, journalist and employee of the Zvenigorod Regional Museum of Local Lore Stanislav Lyachinsky.

Director of the Regional Museum of Jewish History “Originating from Shtetl” Klavdiya Kolesnikova told about the activities of the Zionist Federation of Ukraine, the upcoming election of delegates from Ukraine to the 38th Zionist Congress, and also conducted a tour of the exhibition.

Everyone listened with interest to her story, and then shared their impressions.

Local historian, journalist, research associate of the Zvenigorod Regional Museum of Local Lore Stanislav Lyachinsky: “You are doing a great deal, all of Ukraine must know about it, in order to understand how to build your own state. ”

Leonid Braslavsky, chairman of the Zvenigorod Jewish community: “We read and know all the materials about Zionists and Jewish history that are published in the “Nadezhda”, “Ineynem” and “Khadashot” newspapers. We heard about many heroes of the exhibition at Sunday Jewish school lessons, at community clubs. But for the first time, this topic was revealed in front of us in such detail, and this is wonderful. Thank you for this exhibition.

Violetta Karpenko, chairman of the Zvenigorod community of progressive Judaism: “I liked everything from the beginning to the end. Particularly interesting were the data about those people who hail from places neighboring to our Zvenigorodka. We learned what difficulties they encountered in Eretz Yisrael, what kind of hell they went through, and from what waterless desert with a hot climate they created such a blossoming and fragrant country where three of my grandchildren live now.”

A member of the Zvenigorod Jewish community, Oksana Bublienko: “I would like to add from the youth: I would like to return the repatriates who left for Israel from our country back so that our Ukraine would flourish as much as Israel during this period. And, of course, it is useful to study the Israeli experience and apply it here. For me, much has been heard was new. For young people, all the information presented at the exhibition was necessary and interesting. In the future, this will all help us.”